


The Kindergarten Quartz That Could

by harururu



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-21 11:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9546071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harururu/pseuds/harururu
Summary: A story about Jasper's past.





	1. The War

Pink Diamond paced nervously in her study. "Can't. Just can't."

" Pearl," whispered Pink. "I haven't any way to win this war."

Her Pearl could only look at her helplessly.

 "This war," she mumbled, " we can't win it. Not like this." Pink was silent for a moment before sinking to her knees. At that moment, a pink door opened and two gems walked in. One of them was taller than Pink, with pointed yellow hair, and the other was shorter, slim and had a smug look on her face.

"That will be all, Pearl." said Yellow, before turning to Pink.

"Yellow! I didn't see you come in!" She stood up quickly and ran her hands through her hair.

"You're a mess, Pink."

"I know." Pink turned away and put her head in her hands.

" You can't keep going on like this. This petty war is taking far too long, and your soldiers are dropping faster than Rubies!"

Pink turned to face Yellow. "I know, Yellow, but all the quartzes from the Prime Kindergarten have emerged."

Yellow raised an eyebrow. "At this rate, without any more soldiers, you'll lose to the rebels."

"I just don't know what to do," Pink sighed. " There's not enough resources in Prime to spawn any more."

" There's a second Kindergarten, in Facet Nine, isn't there?"

"Yes, there is, but  think of the gems! If it's a rush job, then they won't come out right, and I would hate for one of my Gems to not be able to be the best that they can be."

" Pink." Yellow looked at her sternly. "Now is not the time for ethics. Do it for your subjects, your colony and your honor!"

                                                                                        The Beta Kindergarten, Facet Nine

The sounds of fighting rang through the soft, red sandstone. A red agate with maroon hair was sparring with two carnelians, one short, one tall, both of whom had just recently emerged.

 "Amateurs," grunted the agate, as she summoned her weapon, a long auburn whip with spikes protruding from it. " I've seen  _humans_  with more spunk than you." She snickered, and summoned a second whip with red fire entwining the spikes. With one graceful movement, she poofed the tall carnelian. The shorter one looked like she was going to spin dash the agate, until she took a second look at the fiery whip and started running off. 

"What a chicken," she smirked. "Couldn't face Ol' Crazy Lace, I guess." Crazy Lace bent down to bubble the carnelian's gem. Unbeknownst to the agate, she wasn't the only gem in Beta. A low rumbling shook the sandstone, and Cray Lace turned to face the dusty walls of the Kindergarten.  She shook off her fear, and picked up the red gem. As her hands closed around the cool stone, the walls shook.

"What in this world..?"  
A crack began to appear in the rock, and it grew larger and larger until an orange gem burst through the sandy cliff. She was flexing her muscular arms and her weapon, an amber crash helmet was on her head. Golden beams of sunlight reflected off the yellow visor, covering her bronze eyes, which were filled with rage and determination.

"Agate," Jasper growled.

"You d-don't scare me," Crazy Lace stuttered.

" Release that carnelian." She commanded. Crazy Lace knelt quietly and set the polished rock on the soft dirt. The agate tried to discreetly summon her whip, but Jasper had anticipated it.

"Don't,"  she sneered warningly.

"Don't --" Crazy Lace turned, whip in hand.

"DO THIS!?" She spun quickly, spikes about to stab Jasper in the face.

Jasper looked at Crazy Lace dead in the eye, her hand wrapped around the whip's spikes.

"How quaint."

"I u-uhm.."

That was all Crazy Lace got out before Jasper tore her gem from her body. "Disgusting," Jasper said disapprovingly. "I can't believe those gems would turn on their Diamonds.  Or my Diamond. Pink Diamond." She bubbled Crazy Lace's gem and sent it back to a Homeworld base, where'd it be shattered or harvested to power gem machinery. Jasper picked up Carnelian's gem.

"Hey," she said. "We have a war to win."

As if on cue, the gem rose from Jasper's hand and glowed pale pink. A tall, broad body formed around it. Carnelian had a velvety crimson bodysuit, with knee-length cerise boots and a pink diamond stenciled across her chest. She had bright hazel eyes, vermillion hair and cherry-red skin.

"Hey newbie," she said, not unkindly.

"It's Jasper," Jasper pronounced.

"I'm just messin' with ya," the red gem replied. "I'm real grateful you saved me back there."

"No problem, Carnelian."

" After all, feels good to be back," Carnelian announced, stretching and running her hand along her right leg and brushed her gem. Jasper grinned.

"Well, let's go."

"You mean over _there?"_ Carnelian nodded past the Kindergarten towards the battlefield.

"Yeah, where else?" Jasper asked, confused.

"Just the two of us? Against _all_ of _them_? Did you _see_ how that agate destroyed me an' that shorty! If they're all like that, we don' stand a _chance_!" Carnelian shuddered. " We should go an' send a message to Homeworld for some more soldiers, or a ship, or at least some material weapons."

"Why would we need material weapons?"

"Jas, I've seen what you've got, but between you an' me I doubt our weapons are enough,"

"It's **Jasper** ," Jasper said, slightly annoyed. "By the way, what is your weapon, anyways?"

Carnelian blushed, and slowly her hand wrapped around the hilt of her weapon protruding from her gem. She pulled the whole thing out, and Jasper took a long look. Her weapon had a wicked curved blade, the colour of polished copper. A magenta hilt with a scarlet guard was connected to the side of the shiny metal. Jasper smiled.

"What do you have to be embarrassed about? That's a fine scythe."

Carnelian flushed a deeper shade of red.

" Yeah, well, it's nothin' compared to your real beauty of a helmet," she replied. Jasper patted her on the back.

"As I said, we have a war to win." The finality in her tone must've inspired Carnelian, because she summoned another scythe and stood up a little straighter.

"FOR HOMEWORLD!" yelled Jasper.

"FOR HOMEWORLD!"  echoed Carnelian, as the two quartzes charged into battle.


	2. On Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper and Carnelian explore Earth.

 After they left the Beta Kindergarten, they'd had to battle only a few weakened battalions of rebel soldiers, and Jasper made easy work of them. Then, without a map or messaging devices, the pair had walked aimlessly for miles, trying to find a Homeworld gem with a means of communication, but to no avail. Instead, they'd found themselves waist-deep in a wet brown goop.

"Arrgh," grumbled Carnelian.  She and Jasper had been trudging through one of Earth's muddier swamps, with no messages from Homeworld or an encounter with other gems, be it a Rebel or not, for nearly a week. "Jasper, where _are_ we going?"

" I dunno," Jasper replied in an exasperated tone. "'Til we get a message from Homeworld or we encounter some rebels, I guess."

" **Arrgh** ," Carnelian grumbled even louder. "No offense to ya, Jasper, but I'm _desperate_ to see another gem."

" None taken, because I feel the _exact_ same way."

Jasper's head snapped up. "Hey! Carnelian!"

"Yeah? What's up? You see anyone?"

"No," Jasper replied."But I can see the Prime Kindergarten. We can use it as our base and rest there for awhile until we get a message from a general or something."

"Oh, great!" Carnelian cheered. "Oh _great,"_ she said a moment later. "I'm stuck."

Jasper quickly stepped out of the mud, and she tested the ground to see if it was solid. When she was satisfied, she pulled herself out of the waist-deep sludge and grabbed Carnelian's sticky hands.

"Oof!" Carnelian groaned. "This Earth stuff isn't lettin' me go!" She gripped Jasper even tighter.

"Hey!" Jasper flinched as Carnelian's nails dug into her skin.

"Sorry, but I _really_ wanna get outta this gunk!"

"I'm _pulling_ as _hard_ as I can!" roared Jasper.

"Well pull harder!"

"How!? I _said,_ I'm _pulling_ as _hard_ as I can!"

"Then maybe you should-"

Carnelian flew out of the swamp and hit the rough ground with a small _thud._ "Thanks, Jasper," she grinned. Jasper wiped her forehead and grinned back.  
"Don't thank me. I was just doing what I should. No quartz left behind, that kind of thing." She turned and squinted her eyes. "The Kindergarten isn't too far, but we should probably start moving if we want to get there before this planet rotates away from its Sun," the orange gem said decidedly.

"Alright," agreed Carnelian, and the duo began to walk to Prime. As Jasper predicted, they reached the Prime Kindergarten just before nightfall. Carnelian looked around at the empty holes and the purple-grey walls. " It's so... organized," she said, awed.

Jasper swallowed nervously. Prime seemed so much better. Like the gems who were made here were just... innately better. She turned around to see Carnelian's reaction, but the red gem just stood there, mouth agape. Jasper left Carnelian where she was and began to scale the dusty Kindergarten to find an appropriate space to use as a cubby.

By the time Jasper had found a nice place to settle down in, Carnelian had realized she'd been looking at the Prime Kindergarten's cliffs for nearly half an hour.

"Jasper! Hey Jasper! Where'd you go!"

"Up here!" Jasper called from a hole near the top of the canyon. Carnelian groaned.

"Why'd you choose a cubby _that_ high?"

Jasper shrugged. "Looked nice," She replied. "What, you can't make it?" teased Jasper.

"Can too," Carnelian answered indignantly.

"I'll be waiting!"

"Urf," Carnelian grumbled as she tried to find usable footholds. "How _did_ she get up there?"

Jasper just covered her mouth and did her best to not laugh has the red gem struggled to climb the rocky walls. "Arrgh," Carnelian said for the third time that day.

"You can do it," Jasper shouted encouragingly.

Eventually, Carnelian did reach the hole that Jasper was sitting in.

"Ne-ever," she panted. "Do, *wheeze*, that, again."    

"No problem," Jasper snickered. Out of breath, the red gem could only glare. She climbed silently into the hole next to Jasper's and the quartzes sat together in silence. The serenity was interrupted by a loud holler.

"HEY! YOU HOMEWORLD ELITES GET DOWN HERE AND FIGHT LIKE GEMS!" A huge crowd of rebels roared. Jasper and Carnelian faced each other and shrugged.

 "Might as well comply," said Jasper.

She jumped from hole to hole until she reached the ground and Carnelian did the same. The gems stood back-to-back as the rebels surrounded them. Carnelian summoned dual scythes and Jasper's helmet appeared on her head.

"You gonna be okay with just your helmet?" whispered Carnelian.

"I think I'll manage," Jasper replied. She balled her fists and stood in a fighting stance. Before she could say anything, an Amethyst wielding a pair of machetes and a white-spotted Obsidian spinning a makila tried to stab Jasper. She swung her arm and both rebel gems fell on the ground. The Amethyst tried to attack again, but Jasper grabbed her gem and punched her in the face. The impact of the punch paired with her gem's refusal to move with her physical form caused the Amethyst's body to dissipate. The Obsidian summoned a second staff and tried to stab Jasper in the chest, Jasper blocked and threw the Amethyst's gem at Obsidian.

"Hey!" The black gem cried, rubbing her forehead. She tried to summon her weapon, but her orange opponent headbutted and poofed her before she could. Jasper calmly picked up the rocks. Looking around, she noticed that there weren't any gems surrounding her. The rebels-and Carnelian- were gone.

"Oh no," Jasper whispered under her breath. "They got Carnelian." She slapped her forehead, angrily and anxiously. "Nononono _nono_ ," She pulled at her hair and punched the walls of Prime, but there wasn't anything she could do.

_How could I have let this happen?_   Jasper thought, ashamed of herself. She didn't wallow in self-pity for long, because a Roaming Eye flew over the orange gem and a door opened, revealing three rubies with assorted Diamond emblems and a large group of battered Homeworld soldiers, most of which bore a Pink Diamond.

"Soldier!" A ruby, probably the de facto leader of the group, yelled.

"I lost a Carnelian and we need to rescue her and-" Jasper babbled profusely.

"Sorry, quartz, but there's no time. Pink Diamond has requested to see all of her remaining soldiers."

**Author's Note:**

> Jasper's such an interesting character, but her past is shrouded in mystery. I wanted to write about my personal headcanons before the official one is released.


End file.
